Rival groups see Iraqi vote as way to claim Kirkuk

In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, supporters of candidate Najamaldeen Karim wave flags from a car in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
— AP

In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, supporters of candidate Najamaldeen Karim wave flags from a car in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
/ AP

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2010 file photo, a Kurdish Peshmerga, center, stands guard with an Iraqi policeman, left, and an Iraqi Army soldier, right, on their first patrol together as the Combined Security Force on the outskirts of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)— AP

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2010 file photo, a Kurdish Peshmerga, center, stands guard with an Iraqi policeman, left, and an Iraqi Army soldier, right, on their first patrol together as the Combined Security Force on the outskirts of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
/ AP

In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, a member of the Kurdish security forces stands near an election campaign poster for candidate Omer al-Jabouri in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)— AP

In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, a member of the Kurdish security forces stands near an election campaign poster for candidate Omer al-Jabouri in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
/ AP

In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, an election campaign poster for candidate Arshid Rashad al-Salahy hangs over a market in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)— AP

In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, an election campaign poster for candidate Arshid Rashad al-Salahy hangs over a market in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
/ AP

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2010 file photo, from left: an Iraqi policeman, an Iraqi Army soldier, a U.S. Army soldier, an Iraqi policeman and a Kurdish Peshmerga, members of the newly-minted Combined Security Force participate in a simulated battle as they demonstrate their skills at a graduation ceremony in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)— AP

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2010 file photo, from left: an Iraqi policeman, an Iraqi Army soldier, a U.S. Army soldier, an Iraqi policeman and a Kurdish Peshmerga, members of the newly-minted Combined Security Force participate in a simulated battle as they demonstrate their skills at a graduation ceremony in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
/ AP

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2010 file photo, an Iraqi Army soldier, center, is seen with US Army soldiers, left, and a Kurdish Peshmerga, right, as they prepare to hand out humanitarian aid on their first patrol together as the Combined Security Force on the outskirts of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)— AP

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2010 file photo, an Iraqi Army soldier, center, is seen with US Army soldiers, left, and a Kurdish Peshmerga, right, as they prepare to hand out humanitarian aid on their first patrol together as the Combined Security Force on the outskirts of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds each see the March 7 vote in Iraq as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours. The election will be the first of any kind in the city for five years. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
/ AP

KIRKUK, Iraq 
Young men hurtle down dusty streets in cars, waving flags and blaring campaign slogans in a fervor that highlights this city's dangerous ethnic divisions. Arabs, Turkomen and Kurds each see Iraq's parliamentary elections as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours.

The claims over this oil-rich city are so contentious that they forced a delay in the national elections for two months as politicians debated how to apportion its votes. The balloting, now scheduled for Sunday, will be the first of any kind in the city for five years - and a measure of which group has the political clout to reinforce its claim.

The results could have far-reaching implications not only for this city but for the whole of Iraq.

Kirkuk is ground zero for potentially the most explosive conflict in Iraq in the era following the U.S. withdrawal over the next year - the struggle between Arabs and Kurds over a large swath of the country's north.

That competition is likely to sharpen regardless of which group emerges on top. The losers will probably accuse the winner of unfairly manipulating the results.

"The politics and the fate of Iraq hang on the fate of Kirkuk," said Jala Nefitchi, a Turkomen candidate. "There are several ethnic groups in Kirkuk, and each one wants to show that the identity of Kirkuk belongs to them."

Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, Kurds have flooded into Kirkuk in what they say is a correction to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's policy of removing Kurds and bringing in Arabs to solidify his control of the city and its nearby oil fields. Kurds see Kirkuk as their "Jerusalem" and demand it be brought into their autonomous zone in the north, a zone many Kurds want one day to break away from Iraq.

Kirkuk's Arabs and their Turkomen allies, however, point to the constant construction in city suburbs as proof that the Kurds are coming back in even greater numbers than in the past in a bid to take control and have an edge if and when a referendum is held on Kirkuk's future, as is called for in the constitution.

Many fear that a referendum - or even a serious push to hold one - could spark violence. And what happens in Kirkuk could have an impact on a swath of territory claimed by the Kurds, stretching across Iraq from the Syrian to the Iranian border.

Even a recent program by the U.S. military aimed at fostering interethnic cooperation has raised suspicions. A few weeks ago, joint patrols teaming Kurdish, Iraqi and U.S. troops began operating in the city.

The Kurds have generally supported the patrols, but Arab and Turkomen officials complain the Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, are being allowed to infiltrate territory which is not theirs.

"I have reservations about the idea, and I have reservations on this U.S. Gen. Odierno," said Sheik Abdul-Rahman Minshid al-Assi, a prominent Sunni Arab political figure in Kirkuk, referring to the top military commander in Iraq, who lobbied for the patrols.